On the issue of the sanctions confrontation between the Soviet State and unfriendly countries during the period of industrialization and the Cold War: hunger, grain, lack of food (1917–1991)

The paper examines the problems of the sanctions confrontation between the Soviet state and unfriendly countries during the period of industrialization and the Cold War. The main periods of aggravation of interstate relations, which contributed to the tightening of mutual restrictive measures, are considered. It is shown that the ongoing reforms and other initiatives of the leadership of Soviet Russia became the reason for the confrontation for many subsequent years, which were initially initiated by England and France. It is revealed that the “golden blockade”, introduced since 1925, turned out to be a heavy burden, having worked out options for exhausting the Soviet government, strategic opponents refused to accept gold as payment for the supplied equipment, machinery and technologies, supplies were carried out only when paying with grain, timber, petroleum products and other raw materials. Due to the past lean seasons in Europe, starting in 1930, Western exporters persistently demanded payment in bread, which subsequently served as the main factor of famine in the USSR (1932–1933). Drought and crop failures in 1931 became tragic for the Soviet people, these circumstances contributed to the loss of the threshold of food security of the country. It has been revealed that the measures introduced by Western countries were directly aimed at stimulating and whipping up protest sentiments in our country, which they tried to use against the Soviet government.